Many State Mortality Indicators Improve

California's mortality rates for major diseases have declined for the most part, although age-related causes of death continue to increase.

According to data issued by the state Department of Public Health, age-adjusted deaths from lung cancer, the most deadly form of the disease, dropped by 10% in 2013, with smaller decreases in the other categories. Overall, the statewide mortality rate from cancer is 151 per 100,000 population. The goal for the national Healthy People 2020 campaign is 161.4 per 100,000. However, the rates in many rural counties in Central and Northern California are significantly higher than the statewide average.

Infant mortality also dropped, to 4.8 per 100,000 population, from 5.2 per 100,000 in the 2007-2009 time period. The national target is six per 100,000.

Moreover, the infant mortality rate Asian/Pacific Islanders and Latinos, at 3.6 per 100,000 and 4.7 per 100,000, is far below the Healthy People 2020 goals of six for 100,000 for all children. But the African-American mortality rate, at 9.8 per 100,000, is still 64% worse than the statewide average.

However, the mortality rate for Alzheimer's disease was 30.9 per 100,000 population, up from 28.9 per 100,000 during the last survey period of 2008-2010.

And the state's death rate from coronary artery disease, at 103.8 per 100,000, is slightly higher than the Healthy People 2020 goal of 103.4 per 100,000.

“The stories told by these data are quite encouraging,” said CDPH Director Karen Smith, M.D., “but we must remember that not all communities have benefited equally from these improvements. Too many people in California still face chronic diseases related to factors such as poor diet, lack of physical activity and the use of tobacco.”